Posts Tagged ‘holidays’

The last weekend was spent in a beautiful place, on the edge of the peak district, surrounded by trees, a river, and ducks galore.

We went camping, 20 of us, and it was good fun, but I have to admit, I got a little stressed out.
Not with sleeping on the ground, for I am well accustomed to that practise. Not with living outside, as I love the fresh air on my face. Not with bugs or spiders, or even ducks, for I kind of just get on with it when surrounded by the forces of nature.
But I got stressed because I found myself mothering everyone!

I found that I just couldn’t help it! I kept wiping the (amazing) folding camping table that Paul and Amy brought in their box of magical camping equipment. I kept tidying everything up before bed. I had not one, but 2 showers in less than 12 hours. I worried constantly about the fact that we were making too much noise, or the boys were kicking the ball too hard, and I generally made myself worried and stressed over nothing.

I did have a brilliant time, but I just wish now that I had relaxed more, got into the spirit of things a bit more, worried less, stressed less, and just chilled the hell out!

So now, we’ve all decided that next time, it’s not going to be in a wet, miserable, curfewed field.
We’re taking it a step further, and we’re all going to get on a plane, and hire out a villa somewhere hot and lovely, somewhere private and secluded, and somewhere where all I will need to worry about is whether or not I’ve remembered my suncream, and I absolutely can’t wait! Roll on next year homeys!

Just a quick post tonight, as I am busy being incredibly sad and playing Bingo Night Live. What is it with that programme? It’s addictive! Seriously, I am obsessed with the fact that I could win a grand, and not have to pay a penny to do so!

Anyway, talking of winning things, last night I got a text from my “friend” Krista. You’ll realise the significance of the inverted commas in a moment.
The message read like this:
“You’re not gonna believe this…. I’ve just won a holiday to Greece on Radio 1! I get £2000 in spending money, and I’m allowed to take 5 mates with me! I know it’s short notice, but if you’re free from 25th September until 2nd October, would you be able to put my bin out for me?”

Talk about bringing me RIIIIIIIIGHHHT up and then dropping me RIIIIIIIIGGHHTT down again! I was distraught! I have seen a message similar to this several years ago, but had completely forgotten all about it, but I honestly totally believed that she had won this holiday! Haha!

So tomorrow I will be seeing Krista for the first time in a few weeks (we’re all going camping! Yay!), so she will be getting a piece of my mind!
Let’s hope I win LOADS of money on Bingo Night Live so that I can wind her up with that.

Days are just flying by me like passing bees. I spend most days feeling slightly “not right”, and I think it’s a mixture of stress, illness, and worry about the shape of things to come. Oh, it’s nothing big, there’s nothing major happening, but things are going to change in September, and I have no control over part of that.

The kids will be starting school, freeing up the days in which I currently have no motivation to actually do anything, and now it’s time to start seeking something to fill the coming empty days.

I’ve been looking for jobs, and I’ve discovered something whilst doing so. The jobs are either GCSE level or post-graduate level, and there is no in-between. Talking to Alex about this, I explained how I felt, and how I feel as though, once again, I’ll end up in a call-centre, and he filled me with glittery, shiny hope by telling me to just go for anything I think I can do, and then sell myself once I’m in there. He said aiming for call-centre work was beneath my capabilities, which is right, but I’m scared I won’t be able to prove myself, and with my fading memory, I’m scared that if I do manage to prove myself, I’ll forget any new things I learn. Maybe that’s what my brain needs; new things to learn and store, it’s wilting a bit right now.

September also sees me starting my Open University course, pending available funds, therefore pending full time job, and I am excited and nervous about that too, but I desperately lack a sense of achievement, and it’s important for me to work hard and prove I can do it, to myself.

Now we have a holiday booked, things are brighter, and I am so looking forward to lying on the beach (must lose weight, must lose weight), speaking fragmented Italian and not understanding any responses, and eating prosciutto and formaggio paninis on a sun lounger.
I also cannot wait to show Venice to the kids on a day trip. I think the no cars element will fascinate them. Let’s just hope we can actually afford it when it comes around.

Today marks the start of a healthy eating regime (again! ARRGHH) for me, and I have to stick to it. I have to. I’ll be a walking heart attack waiting to happen otherwise, and I so need to drop a few stone and tone up while I’m at it.
I don’t think I’ll ever have a bikini body to die for, but at least I’ll feel more comfortable in one if it’s a better shape than the weetabix it is currently resembling.

I have returned from a lovely weekend away. I decided some time ago that I would whisk the kids up to Scotland for a break whilst I’ve got time off from work, so we booked bargain fares on the train, and went on Thursday.

I took my little notebook/diary type thing, thinking that a 2 hour train journey would allow me plenty of time to scribble away and take notes, and instead, I ended up with earache from two 4 year olds who couldn’t stop showing me their drawings of trains, sheep and people. It was a good journey though, and we all had plenty of food to munch on that we’d made and packed earlier in the day.

Once we got to Carlisle, we had a wait of around 15 minutes for my aunty to come and collect us, and as we drove over the border, we encouraged the kids to cheer and wave their arms about. They sat there stony-faced and silent, and would not even smile. (They were being incredibly shy!)

We chilled out at her house, and waited for Stevie to come home from school. She walked in all grown up and tall, and totally changed from the last time I saw her, all contributing to my feeling old. From then on, I never saw my kids! They followed poor Stevie and her friend Shannon all over the place, and I started to feel as though I’d lost some limbs! I have to admit however, that I did enjoy it, it felt like a bit of a break, and I relaxed knowing that they were safe in Stevie’s hands.

We had a chinese, we had drinks, we had visits to shops where I found some plain cheap plimsols I’d wanted for ages, and I even managed to squeeze a night out in, where I discovered the most gorgeous garlic mayonnaise, which lingered the next day regrettably. All in all, we had a great time, and I can’t wait to go back again, or for them to come and visit us in Manchester.

Unfortunately, the end of a relaxing break tends to lead to stress, and this was no truer than the events of yesterday and today.
We got to Carlisle to discover there were no trains running whatsoever, due to high winds causing a freight train to blow all over the tracks on our route. So, we were faced with a coach journey to Preston. As the coach filled up, the driver came out to tell me that there were 2 seats left, but they were separate. Now, anyone who knows my children would know that there is no way in the world they would sit away from me, next to a stranger on a huge bus that they’ve never been on before, and I explained this to him, using “they’ll cry their eyes out” as the clincher. Thankfully, he asked some kind man if he would move, and the 3 of us squeezed into two seats together. As we drove past countless grazing sheep and the beauty of the Lake District, Evie had a little snooze on my knee, as Marley sprawled out in the seat she had all to herself. We ate chocolates and drank Ribena, and finally we reached Preston, where we had to get a train.
When this train pulled into Manchester Victoria, we went to the tram stop for our tram home. We waited, and we waited, and we waited, for what felt like hours, and no Altrincham trams came by. Eventually, we decided to just get on a Piccadilly one (ticketless!), and change there to get home (with ticket!).

We walked home from the tram stop, laden down with suitcases and bags galore, looking like a trio of pack-horses trudging through the town, and poor Marley gave in and fell over sending her little tartan suitcase and a Tweenies bag flying over the concrete.

Finally, we got home, and bursting for wees and so hungry, we discovered my Mothers Day presents. 2 books I’d wanted for a while, which is better than chocolates when you’re trying to lose weight!
Alex came home soon after us, with a pizza in hand, and smiles and cuddles for the kids. Oh, how they had missed him, and this was so evident when they saw his car pull up and ran to the door shouting “WOO-HOOOOO!”.

Today has provided me with further stress. I’ve found out I can’t have the time off I wanted incase we manage to get tickets for Glastonbury, or manage to find work at Glastonbury, and my work have such ridiculous rules regarding it, that I feel like telling them to shove the job up their bums. It’s complicated to explain, but they have holiday “ceilings” which means only so many people within the store from certain departments can have time off at the same time, but our department are grouped together regardless of whether you work days or nights, and also with the office, who have nothing to do with our staffing. It’s not like we cover their work or they cover ours! So I am not happy, and I’ve told my boss this. I don’t know if this will help, I think the only thing that will help will be to leave. Yes, that would help my sanity, but may not help my purse.